Patrick John McCrann | Athlete. Author. Coach.

photo credit: zoer
Forget Me Not!

There’s a lot of readily available technical advice and information how to improve your endurance training. From using supplements to equipment selection, from training advice to going as far as to leaning your genetic blueprint to customize how you eat and what supplements to take…it’s all out there. But none of them work as effectively as being consistent: doing what you need to do day-in, day-out to manage your training, your nutrition, or whatever you focus may be. The trick is figuring out how you can be consistent.

On some level, it’s just human nature to seek out a shortcut, to find a “better” way to get the same results you want but in less time. Or with less work. Why train daily if you can train every other day and then hook up some electrodes to your quads on the other days to jack you up while you type at your desk? Why take the time to manage your nutrition and prepare 3 great meals a day when you just take a master supplement?

The truth is that short cuts are a means to an end, but in endurance sports the journey is often a really important part of the process itself. Those electrodes technically make you stronger, but you are no better at swimming, running or cycling. The supplements give you nutrients, but they are a poor man’s replacement for eating a well-balanced diet and have none of the ancillary benefits around digestion, for example.

At the end of the day, most of us know what to do. We know we need to get out the door to train. We know we shouldn’t have that second (or fourth) handful of munchkins. We know that not stretching for months on end will have its effects. The challenge is changing our behavior; taking that mental cue and making it physical.

Once you make it real, once you make it happen, it’s easier to make it happen again. Behaviors, good or bad, tend to snowball. Once you set it in to motion, it will tend to stay in motion. Here’s how I do it.

1. Pick a behavior you want to implement. It can be anything from stretching 15′ a day to not eating sugar. Go crazy, but just pick one at a time.
2. Get a rubber band, bracelet or something similar to put on your wrist…it has to be new. This is your connection between the desire and your behavior.
3. Implement your plan of action on the topic you picked in step one. Do it on a daily or regular basis, and set a goal. Say 10 days of 15′ a day of stretching.
4. When you drop the ball on your action plan, then you must switch the band or bracelet to the other wrist.
5. Repeat until you have met your goal!

Your goal is to keep that band on the same wrist for as long as your stated timeline. After that point you should be pretty consistent with your behavior and ready to tackle another focus point.

I have used the strategy for doing everything from core exercises at home to managing my daily diet. When you get right down to it, we are little more than the sum of our daily choices, of the basic steps we take. If you can make sure you are taking more of those right steps, the closer you will be to your desired outcome.

Good luck!

~ Patrick